Anger, Rage, Hatred, Revenge
by Sarge11
Summary: Ratchet's son has had a near death experience, and Ratchet is compelled to find out whodunit. However, when he does find those responsible, he's in for a nasty surprise... and some very unpleasent memories.
1. Character Sheet

Anger, Rage, Hatred, Revenge

By Sarge11

**Disclaimer: **I think they get the point by now.

Welcome back to the wonderful world of Crusade. While I work out the many options that are going through my head at the moment, right now you will be getting a character sheet for now.

Prologue and Characters 

Alema: Ratchet and Angela's daughter, the brightest one of their kids, she takes after her mother as a scientist and geneticist. She is the middle child, and is thirteen years old.

Ax: The happy couple's adventurous and tough son who takes after Ratchet, and inherited his father's Rynocerator at just the age of five. The firstborn, others often consider him the favorite. At the time of the story, he is sixteen years old.

Screwdriver: It is not clear where this young man is going, possibly a senior officer on the Starship Phoenix, for two reasons. Number one, he is a natural leader. Number two, when Ratchet was giving the kids a tour of the Phoenix, the young, five-year-old-boy wondered off. While he was looking for his family, he felt he had to go to the bathroom. He eventually found himself in the living quarters where he heard the sound of running water. He knocked on the door and the water turned off, and he heard a female voice inside say, "Coming". However, he misinterpreted it and thought she said, "Come in", which he did, and was surprised to see the Captain of the Starship Phoenix herself, standing right in front of him, completely naked. She just stood there for a second, surprised to see such a young Lombax just wondering the ship. Then, her mind jumped back to the present, and she screamed and jumped to the towel rack and quickly covered herself. "Who are you," she asked. He just stood there, mesmerized by the wonderful sight he had just seen. She asked him again but he still did not respond. Then Ratchet, who had heard the scream, rushed into the room and was just as surprised as his son was to see Sasha dripping wet, in a towel, with his son staring at her upstairs, and then slowly to her downstairs, and then up again. Ratchet apologized and they left. Screwdriver has been hooked on that Cazar ever since. He is the youngest in the family and is currently nine years old.

It was a typical day in the life of a retired superhero. Ratchet was skydiving on Veldin when he heard the bad news. He was about half way down to the ground, when some Rangers joined him. They signaled for him to stop and Ratchet told Clank to activate the Levitator, which he kept fueled for just such occasions. "What's up?"

"We've, got some bad news, Sar-, uh, I mean, Ratchet. The Starship Phoenix was attacked and destroyed," said the Ranger.

Ratchet just floated there, amazed at what he had heard. Then he fell into a rage and did not notice the fact that his Levitator was running out of fuel until he was already falling. Screwdriver was on that ship at the time.


	2. Chapter 1: Another Gifted Lombax

Anger, Rage, Hatred, Revenge

By Sarge11

**Disclaimer: **We all know I don't own anything.

To all who said this didn't take a long time, you were obviously getting the prologue and chapter one confused. Here is the real chapter one.

Chapter 1: Another Gifted Lombax 

Ratchet awoke from his rage after he was about three hundred yards off the ground. For a half a second, he was confused and disoriented. He did, however, become aware of his situation in time to right himself and give Clank the angle he needed to make a steady descent.

Ratchet gently touched down, and slowly dropped to his knees and then on all fours, breathing heavily. His skin was red partly because of the wind beating against his body and partly because of his anger, and his hair stood on end. Clank jumped off his back and started backing away.

The Ranger Dropship touched down about thirty feet away from Ratchet and jumped out with Tesla Claws in case Ratchet needed to be temporarily knocked out. Ratchet was gagging at the possibility that both Sasha and Screw could be dead, and in fact, did vomit.

The Rangers cautiously approached Ratchet until he held up his hand and wheezed, "It's alright. HACK! You can come closer."

"Sir, we didn't have enough time to tell you while you were in the air, that your son survived." As the Ranger said this, Ratchet's eyes started welling up in tears because he was so relieved that Screw had lived.

"Good, very good," Ratchet was starting to speak a little more normally now and got up on one knee. "And what about Sasha?"

"She, uhh, she didn't make it," the Ranger said both sadly and hesitantly, because he didn't want Ratchet to go into another rage.

However, lucky for the Ranger, Ratchet's emotions kept on switching before they could become too serious. He would start to get angry, then sad, then hatred would set in, and then sadness again. Ratchet just choked on himself.

The Ranger pulled him into the Dropship and showed him a medical video. It showed a young Lombax lying under a white sheet on a hospital bed, which Ratchet recognized as his son. He was currently asleep. He could see a torn and melted vac suit hanging from the wall; probably Screw's. But all Ratchet could see was Screw, who had cuts, bruises, serious burns, places infected by frostbite because of the coldness of space, and some broken limbs. Ratchet could just barely see him breathing.

A Ranger medic pushed by the young Lombax with a knife and started to make a cut to pull out a piece of shrapnel from the boy's shoulder. Ratchet tried to turn away, but the Ranger next to him forced him to watch, and Ratchet was astounded as the knife burned away in the Ranger's hand in blue fire that seemed to erupt from the boy himself. He was amazed further as a sort of humming sound came from Screw and he opened his eyes. But instead of his father's bright green eyes, a blue luminescent light came from his eyes. Then, his entire body started glowing blue and he started hovering in the air and the pieces of shrapnel started sliding out of his cuts. Ratchet was amazed further as the spots where the skin had been harmed by heat or cold started to turn a healthy color again and fur grew over them. And all at once, he started spinning really fast in the air and he stopped, and slowly started coming down, and his arms were moving as if they had never been broken and his cuts were gone. He touched down and stood there for two seconds. When all of a sudden, he thrust his arm out toward a nearby Ranger and pushed through the wall without touching him.

Ratchet's eyes widened and he muttered to himself, "Oh, my God. Telekinesis."

The medical room then erupted into chaos. Rangers were running and screaming everywhere and were being flung into the walls. The recording continued in this way until one of the Rangers crashed into the camera, leaving nothing but static.

The Ranger looked at Ratchet and said, "Must be hereditary."

"Yes, It would appear my powers worked their way into your reproductive system," said an all too familiar voice, but the Ranger didn't recognize it and spun around and pointed the Tesla Claw at the stranger.

Ratchet, who had seen the stranger and knew him very well, put his hand on the Ranger's arm and forcefully lowered the Tesla Claw.

Standing in the doorway was the mystic. Ratchet and Clank approached him to ask him a question.

However, before Ratchet could cross the whole distance, a female voice popped up behind the mystic. "Hey, dad." It was Alema, who was followed by Angela.

Alema gave Ratchet a hug and then started to talk with Clank about things smart people talk about. Angela walked up to Ratchet, gave him a hug and a kiss, and asked three things. "Is Screw alive?" To which Ratchet could happily reply yes. "How is he?" Ratchet had to show her the video since it was too bizarre. Before she asked the last question, she had to add, "He gets that from you." She wasn't so surprised because Ratchet had some abilities like that. The last question she asked was, "Who is this guy?" she asked gesturing toward the medic. "He came to our home and said that there was something wrong in the family and told us to turn on the holovid. He said he was an old friend of yours."

Ratchet had to explain what happened on Tabora, Grelbin, Veldin, and Crusade (Let's just say she had never met the mystic).

"Where's Ax?" asked Ratchet.

"Off saving some small planet or something. You know, the usual," Angela said as if stating a fact. "He gets that from you." Angela smiled.

Ratchet looked at Alema and Clank, who were still talking.

"She gets that from you," Ratchet made a comeback. Ratchet and Angela smiled a little. Ratchet sighed and said to the Rangers, "Take me to Screwdriver, and you," he pointed at the mystic, "you're coming with me."

Well, I don't know about you, but I think two things and know two more things. I think this will be a better story than the last one, and I think that the next chapter will take longer to complete. As for the things I know, there will be another sequel, and I think that Mr. D 91 should know that yes, you were correct in assuming that the second story was better than the first.

**-Sarge11**


	3. Chapter 2:The Culprit

**Anger, Rage, Hatred, Revenge**

**By Sarge11**

**Disclaimer: **The only stuff I own is the stuff not in the game.

**Sorry. There are two reasons why this took so long. One, school is really hammering me hard. And two, well, that's personal.**

_**Chapter 2: The Culprit**_

Ratchet, Clank, Alema, Angela, and the mystic entered the room where Screw slept. He was still glowing a little bit, but he was sleeping more peacefully than Ratchet had ever seen him sleep before.

Ratchet approached his boy slowly, and bent down to see if he was really asleep, or if he was in a hibernation caused by the strain of using his powers, which had happened to Ratchet many times before. He pulled his head up and signaled to Angela that he was just sleeping. She quickly and quietly walked over to Screw and scratched him behind his ear, which always woke him up.

His eyes shot open. There was still a blue glow lingering in his eyes, showing that he still had some power left. He thrust his arm out toward Angela, but instead of flying through the wall, she just felt a small, invisible, withering force pushing lightly against her. Screwdriver was able to keep up the pressure for ten seconds, and then fell into hibernation. The glow faded, his eyes closed, and he went limp.

The mystic stepped forward and held his arms out. A series of pink rings surrounded Screw and started swirling around him.

The young Lombax sat bolt upright and looked frantically around the room.

He paused for a second, then broke up in tears, screaming, "Miss Sasha! Miss Sasha! Come back!"

Angela bent down and hugged him.

Ratchet asked, "Who did this?"

"I can answer that," said a voice similar to Ratchet's but deeper.

They turned around and saw Ax, who was much bigger than Ratchet due to his many adventures. Sarge11 was standing next to him.

They crossed the room to a holomoniter at the other side of the room, and Sarge11 inserted a chip. As the video was starting up, Ax explained what was on the chip.

"This video was taken by Sarge11 while he was searching a nearby asteroid for a rare power crystal. He was able to film the Phoenix in its last moments of life," explained Ax.

The Phoenix appeared on the screen. Except it was on fire. Flames were pouring from the engines, and the entire back half of the ship was an inferno that was quickly making its way to the ships powder magazine where all the ship's ammo was stored. The flames reached the magazine and ignited a series of explosions that rocked the ship. Finally, one last explosion separated the "neck" of the ship from the body.

However, Angela, Clank, and Alema weren't looking at the Phoenix. They were more interested in the attackers' ships than the Phoenix. It was a design they had never seen before. They looked like giant, vomit-covered bricks. But one of the more interesting parts of the ships, were the six "legs" on each side of the craft that would "grab" onto parts of the Phoenix and pull them off; turrets, shield generators, armor plates, and parts of engine.

The computer on the recorder started tracing smoke trails leaving the attacking ships. It zoomed in on the sources of the smoke and scanned the sources and the smoke. The smoke was a trail of hydrogen, and the source was a hydrogen bomb.

The computer zoomed out again and started scanning other things. It scanned the ships' engines, but could not get a reading on it. So it scanned the entire ship, and revealed that the ship was carbon-based. The ships were literally alive.

The Phoenix launched one final barrage at the attackers, before being destroyed by the enemies' missiles, and managed to destroy an enemy ship.

The computer focused on what appeared to be empty space, but there was a humanoid figure floating around; a very tall one too. Apparently it had come from the destroyed enemy ship. Another figure floated into view. It was much smaller and clad in a bright orange vac suit. It was Screw.

As Ratchet studied the taller figure, he realized something horrible. It was one of the creatures he had been captured by on his first "visit" to Crusade. The same kind that had tried to suck Skidd's brains out and that killed Sarge11's entire squad.

Screw floated closer to the creature. It started ripping and tearing at the suit and managed to get a hold of some of the places where shrapnel had punctured the suit and started tearing it open. He was able to kick away from the creature before the suit was completely ripped. After floating around for maybe three seconds, he fell unconscious and the ships left.

A Ranger Dropship came into view and was moving toward the camera and extended its ramp. Sarge11 walked toward the Dropship but turned around as if he had forgotten something. He reached for the camera and the video stopped.

"After showing this to Galactic Command, this new threat has been christened, 'The Beast'," Sarge11 spoke for the first time. "We were able to capture two of the creatures and discovered something odd. They share a single mind. Basically, this means that what one creature hears or feels, the entire species experiences as well." He put another disk in the monitor, and the two creatures mentioned appeared onscreen. "One of the creatures is hooked up to some electric wires, while the other one left alone." Two screens showed what was going on in their brains.

The current was turned on and both the creatures convulsed, not just the one hooked up. The screens with the brains lit up in the same patterns. Even though one of them wasn't hooked up, it was feeling everything that was happening to his buddy.

The monitor was turned off and silence filled the room.

Ax was the first to speak. "I managed to capture one of the ships. It's sitting in the hanger."

They reached the hanger and saw something the likes of which they had ever seen before. It was a disgusting green color and looked like it didn't have any aerodynamic parts whatsoever. It was just a giant, green brick that had six legs.

But the strangest was yet to come. As they got closer, they could see the surface heaving lightly up and down, as if it were breathing. Sarge11 took out a laser blade and cut into the ship. A horrific smell filled the room, something like charred flesh. A cut was made into the side and something akin to blood flowed from the cut. As the cut was made, a silent squealing sound emitted from the ship, the heaving increased, and the legs started twitching.

"So. Not even the ships are made of metal. The only thing that is even slightly modern are the missiles," mused Ratchet.

"Yes, but the problem isn't the power of the weaponry, it's the speed of their attack and the numbers of their ships," Sarge11 explained.

"Their escape route has been traced and we've found their base on Crusade," said Ax.

"Oh, no. The Albinos. We've gotta help them out!" exclaimed Angela.

"I've already checked it out. They're already in hiding and are getting prepared for war," said Ax.

"Let's drop by and give them a hand," said Ratchet with grim determination.

**Well, here's the second real chapter. I thought that, as a whole, it could have been better, but the part about the small push and the descriptions of the ships were way cool, I think. So, I've done my part, you do yours and review.**

**-Sarge11**


	4. Chapter 3: Tactical Retreat

**Anger, Rage, Hatred, Revenge**

**By Sarge11 **

**Disclaimer: **Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

**I can't tell you how sorry I am about how long this took. I blame my computer, some spineless hacker, and my dad for the wait. But, again, sorry. And just for you Ganhiem (or Ganheim) Alema is a perfectionist. And I couldn't really decide what kind of technology the creatures would have, so I used the Yuuzhan Vong as a model. I appolagize. I realize that these aliens make sucky soldiers.**

**_Chapter3: Tactical Retreat_**

Angela was grumbling to herself about how she had let herself be left behind in the orbital comms station hanging in orbit over Crusade. Alema was sitting at the monitor that measured sound waves (kind of like an outer space sonar), and was preparing the Dropship for planetary assault.

_Requesting you start pre-flight checks, _came the pilot's voice over the speaker.

"Commencing," Alema said into her mike. "Hang tight." As she was looking through the many cameras hanging around inside Dropship to make sure everything was secure, she heard Angela grumbling. "You don't have to stay here, you know."

Angela's back straightened, her ears perked up, and she blinked her eyes twice as if she had just woken up. "Wha-?" She turned to face Alema.

"I said, you don't have to stay here. It only takes one person to run a comms station." Alema didn't even look away from her work. "The security around here is extremely shabby, and you could easily stow away. And you could make it if you hurry-there's ten minutes to lift-off." As she turned around to face her mother, she wasn't shocked at all to see that she had already left. Alema shrugged her shoulders, turned back toward the monitor, and got back to work.

Angela didn't have any problem getting to the Dropship. Alema was right-the security around there was extremely shabby. She didn't run into a single patrol. She figured the Galactic Military was pretty understaffed since the attack of the Beast and destruction of the Phoenix.

However, as she neared the Dropship, she had a very profound revelation that would have stopped her in her tracks if she couldn't multitask. She had been left behind for a reason. Sarge11 and Ax were there because of there combat experience. Screw was in orbit with the medical forces in orbit because of his powers to detect those who were wounded. Ratchet was there because of his combat powers and his versatility in combat. She, Alema, and Clank were in very specific stations on the station because those were the environments that best suited their skills. She almost considered going back, but she could already see the Dropship and she figured it was too late to go back.

The Dropship shuddered as the magnetic field holding it in the hanger deactivated and the landing craft dropped into space. It hung back and waited for the other Dropships to disengage out of their interspace drives and join it in orbit. While they were waiting for the strike team to arrive, they reviewed the plan, and the beach they would be attacking (Although they really didn't need to since it was the same beach they had attacked on B-Day-**Return to Crusade**-**_Chapter3:_** **_A Helping Hand_**). When the entire assault group was assembled, they reviewed the plan to make sure they had it down pat. Ratchet shook his head in near disgust. Even though the war was just getting started, the Galactic government was already going into the Volksturmm (German militia in WWII made up of entirely people too young or too old to fight-one of Hitler's last desperate stands) stage of the war.

The Dropship activated their intraspace drives and slowly descended toward the planet. The ships jolted as they entered Crusade's rough atmosphere. The ship's radar/tactical engineer detected highly concentrated masses of hydrogen headed up for the ships.

"This is it," Ratchet said to himself as he pulled on his helmet. He turned to his men (somehow his unit always managed to stay elite) and said to them, "Lets review the plan one more time." He paused, waiting for the pre-battle chatter to wear down. He continued "First, the Hoverships and Turbosliders will drop and make first contact with the enemy. The ground is sure to be swarming with enemies so we'll have to hot-drop you; the Turbosliders have been equipped with jump-jets to stabilize their drops and give them a soft landing. The Hoverships will destroy the missile sites and the Turbosliders will keep the enemy infantry busy. Then the troops will freefall from the Dropships and hold the enemy from the position on the beach so the tanks can land and push the attack. The tanks we are using are too heavy to be hot-dropped, so we'll have to land the Dropships directly on the ground."

The missiles started blowing up around the ship and the crew thought that the old-fashioned hydrogen bombs (by that time in history, even nuclear weapons were old-hat) were shaking the ship a little too much. One particular missile exploded a little too close to the ship and one of the Turbosliders broke loose from its chains and started wobbling. As it was bucking and swaying, the assembled group heard a shriek from the inside of a turret of the Turboslider.

Ratchet leaped up on top of the vehicle and produced his Fusion Rifle. However, just as he was pointing it at the intruder, all he found was Angela. As she looked in his eyes, she could see that he was seething, but he managed to hold it in very well.

"You know youwere left behind for a reason, don't you?" Ratchet spoke in a calm, even voice.

Angela dropped her eyes. "Yes."

Ratchet sighed. "I'll check and see if we have any spot for you."

Angela looked more hopeful.

"We need a good pilot for one of our gunships," Ratchet gestured at a Hovership. "We're getting close to the drop-off point. You'd better get to your ship."

_Author's note: The Hovership is pretty much the same. Except for two laser podsaddedbeneath thefuselagewhich eachfire a single beam of pure energy that can honest-to-God slice you in half. They had their own batteries because continueous fire would drain the ship's other systems too quickly._

Angela climbed into the cockpit and ordered her crew to get in their positions. Ratchet told them to man first only the absolutely necessary positions first. The Rangers complied, albeit slowly. Ratchet hopped into the driver's seat of the nearest Turboslider.

_Author's note:I will give you more detail on this vehicle since the Turboslider sequence in this chapter is much more entertaining. The improvements made to the Turboslider are more numerous, since the action it would be in is more intense.Bulletproof glass windshields have been added to give a little added protection. The duel turret cannon and forward gun have been replaced by powerful miniguns that each have seperate ammo stores and average about 1,000 rpm (rounds-per-minute). The cannons fire ballistic ammunition instead of energy bolts. This makes the ammo more powerful, but limits the capacity. A crew compartment was added in the back of the vehicle in case something got through the bulletproof glass. The ammo was stored in the crew compartment. Oneach side of the turret were addedtwo platforms (also protected by buletproof glass),each equippedwithone smaller energy cannon that had their own batteries. There are two types of ammunition that can be changed, while still firing, with the flip of a switch. There is armor-piercingincendiary, which has an explosive tip, that is useful against lightly armored vehicles and weak bulidings, and there is the good-old-fashioned 50. caliber round, big enough to tear through any kind of body armor and stillmaul the person's insides. _

"Open the bay doors," Angela said into the mike to the ship systems engineer. However, to her surprise and horror,as the doors opened and she started up her engines, she could see a missile screaming right for the open doors of the Dropship. "Everybody out now!" she yelled into the mike. The Hovership dropped from the Dropship's open doors, Turbosliders shot from the ramps going full speed, and thetroops and even the crewjumped after the Turbosliders the second they were clear. Angela juked just in time so that herdescentwas only slightly disturbed by the missile's turbulence. The missile hit the Dropship and exploded. Angela could here the screams of the Rangers over her headset as the fireball consumed and disintigrated them. The explosion was so large and hot, that some of the other Dropships were blown off course, the paint on her Hovership started to boil, and even with the jump-jets the Turbosliders were having a hard time leveling out. Angela watched her altimeter spinning like a helicopter rotor. She pushed all of the lift fans past the safety limits and she could hear the engine wining and the fuselage creaking and groaning as it was stressed almost beyond its limits. She almost became afraid the gunship would break apart and eased back on the throttle. The descent slowed to a crawl and she adjusted the power settings on the fans to just enough so that she could stay afloat.

Angela pushed forward hard on the throttles and it shot forward. She did a corckscrew roll, but instead of coming out of it, stillflying at the same level, she turned downward into a steep dive. As she was diving down she thought she was looking at a thick, massive rainforest, but realized, to her dismay, that the green stuff was actually enemy infantry. At the last second she pulled up and leveled out.

She told the bomber to attack the missile sites and the laser pod gunners to fire on the infantry. She herself would attack the other AA platforms and aircraft hangars. And they set about their work.

It looked like they were winning too... at least until she heard lock alarms chiming. She didn't have any room or time to get away from the missile and she was forced to take a hit. The expected shudder came, but there was no explosion.Instead, sparks shot from the control board and the ship started to descend rapidly. The missile was EMP tipped and it had shut down her ship's systems (except for the laser pods). As she heard the backup generator attempting to start up the lift fans again, the ship rocked as the effort tore the fans off of the ship. She heard somethingscraping on the windshield. She equipped a small pistol and opened the glass barrier. She saw alittle, black,bug-eyed, spider-like creature eatingthe armoroff ofthe ship. However, instead of just one, she found several crawling around all over the ship. They must have ridden it up on the missile (think Buzz Droids). She was falling so rapidly now, that she had to sit back down and close the shield to keep from falling out.

With the ship tearing itself apart from trying to start itself up again and the bugsbiting chunks out of her ship, it was evident that the ship would fall apart at any moment. When it did, instead of seeing the chaos of battle, she saw a bright blue light surrounding her and suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of calm.

Her sense of calm was broken, however for an instant, when a Ranger asked, "Are we dead yet?"

_(Flashback to when the missile hit the Dropship)_

Ratchet's Turboslider shot from the Dropship's ramp just as the missile shot through the open bay doors and exploded. The explosion temporarily knocked out the communication gear.The assault vehicle bucked and shook as it plummeted faster and faster towards the ground, thousands of feet below. Ratchet gunned the jump-jets, always watching the fuel stores for them. The vehicle finally leveled out and started to descend. Ratchet pressed an emergency button that was normally pressed in case the vehicle became submerged. A large raft sprang outon all sides of the Turboslider and kept the assault vehicle even as it fell.

As Ratchet neared the ground he checked his radar and his heart skipped a beat. The entire are in front of the scanning radius was red. The entire screen was filled with enemy units. He hit the jump jets and the descent slowed to a crawl. He knew that it took at least one hundred enemies to fill that screen and he knew there were at leastten times that many outside of the radar screen. Four Turboslider against a hundred thousand enemies didn't leave a very high chance of survival.

A high-pitched beeping sounded in the canopie that told him the jet fuel was out. The Turboslider dropped the short distance to the ground with a thud.

The second the wheels touched the ground, Ratchet gunned the engine and the wheels started spinning, kicking up a storm of dust and dirt. The ATAV (All-Terrain-Attack-Vehicle)lurched forward and shot into the crowd of enemies with all guns blazing. The front windshield was almost immediately covered in gore. However, there were so many hostiles that, even though he was shooting without aiming, he knew that he was hitting enemies because his windshield kept getting bloodier and bloodier.

The Turbosliders blazed through the enemy resistance, seeming like they were making a difference in numbers. However, soon after the Turbosliders left one area of ground, it was quickly filled up again by enemy units, despite the extra firepower and guns.

Ratchet silently cursed as one, then two of the Turbosliders were put out of commission.

He distinctly heard a click on the back of the vehicle and instantly knew that one of the creatures had latched on to the back. Before he could yell out a warning though, he heard the scream of the gunner as he was torn out of the turret and thrown out of the turret (the two other smaller gunners had fallen out long ago), and into the hungry jaws of the Beast. He heard the wind start to rush in to the Turboslider as the roof panel was being pryed open. The Rangers, in their usual, um, show of courage and self control, started screaming, not yelling, mind you, screaming that it was coming through.

The Rangers tried to take it down, but slowly the cannonfire ceased (Ratchet pretended not to hear). Slowly, the alien climbed into the canopy, so to speak, equipped his Bomb Glove, which he still kept for sentimental reasons (always stockedwith at least ten bombs) and waited until he could feel the creature breathing down his neck. Ratchet finally turned around and thrust it's mouth open, shoved a bomb down its throat, and, using some of his "abilities", threw it out the front window and was immediately covered in gore.

By now, the _Turboslider's_ pilot guns had long run out of ammo, and the vehicle was almost out of gas. However, the main turret still had some ammo left. So, he climbed up to the turret, positioned his feet so he could stand, and cut loose with the cannon.He was able to keep the advancing hordes of creatures at bay for about a minute and a half, where he ran out of ammo.

He hopped out of the turret and opened himself fully to the flow of energy and adrenaline that came when he was using his powers. The fact that all four of the Turbosliders were now down made him even angrier.

He charged through the crowd of enemies, decapitating and mutilating as he went. As an added bonus, before the battle, he'd made a stop at Slim's and got napalm pads added on his boots. Soas he ran, his boots were pumping out a trail of napalm behind him, keeping the empty spaces empty a little longer.

_Author's note: For those of you who don't know jack about napalm, even after playing Ratchet: Deadlocked, napalm, of course is a fiery liquid much like glue. Once you get it on you, you can't get it off, and ifit sticks to you,it burns into your skin and keeps going. Interesting fact, napalm was one of the major ingredients of Greek Fire._

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the tank force "coming to rescue them". But Ratchet's years of experience on the battlefield told him that the tank force would not be enough.

As he was running, something grabbed his leg. Unfortunately, it was strong enough and had a good enough hold on his leg to halt his sprint, despite the fact that napalm was pouring all over his hands. The force of being stopped so suddenly and at such great speeds broke his leg, and he fell to the ground. But, fortunately, a side effect of having all that adrenaline flowing was that he couldn't feel any pain.

The creatures got closer and closer, but Ratchet fought on with his wrench, removing body parts with each swing. Just as Ratchet was losing hope, he saw a strange blue light descend on him, the sounds of battle was replaced by a soft, soothing hum, and anoverwhelming sense of calm came over him. All at once, time seemed to stand still and he felt a lifting sensation. As he was rising, he saw the source of the light. It was Screw! Slowly, time began to speed up again.

His sense of hearing also returned and he was aware of gunfire. .Instinctively, he flinched and waited for the impact. But it never came.The gunfirewas not coming frombelow him, but on the same level as him. He looked toward the source of the gunfire and saw Angela, Sarge11, Axe, and a handful of Rangers.

Ratchet pulled out his own gun and started shooting. Then, to Ratchet's surprise, a small group of creatures jumped up and grabbed Sarge11, Angela, and a couple of Rangers. The creatures were able to get a good grip on all of them and started pulling them down. Screw started to ascend toward a hospital ship.

Ratchet yelled, "Wait! Go back down there!"

Axe floated over to where Ratchet floated,struggling madly to reach his wife and friend. Axe grabbed his father by the shoulders, looked him lovingly in the eye, and shook him real hard and yelled, "Hey! Yur' actin' like a nut!" and slapped back and forth across the face a couple times. "Pull yourself together, man! They didtheir duty, now you have to do your duty. We have orders to retreat. we're gonna have to leave them behind."

Ratchet would have objected, but he heard Angela telling himto go on without her. Sarge11 told her the same. After hearing this, Ratchet stopped struggling and was lifted upwards towards the medical ship. He completely ignored the Rangers yelling at him to come back.

Ratchet was now filled with rage. It is in this stage that he loses his sense of friend or foe and attacks indiscriminately. He started to float over toward Axe, but he equipped a Tempest and tranquilized Ratchet.

**I would like to apolagize for however long this chapter took. You see, the computer's motherboard was messed up or something. And after it was fixed, I didn't write for a while because I guess that I had lost that flame, so to speak, that I had writing the first story. I mean, after maybe two stories the oxygen supplying the flame sort of gets used up, if you get my meaning. I promise, the next update will come faster... just as soon as I'm finished thinking it up.**

**-Sarge11**


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